Microsoft’s Project Solara is an OS for AI devices

Microsoft just announced “Project Solara“A new OS designed for electronic devices that run AI agents, at Build 2026. The company calls it “a new platform built from the ground up for events controlled by a power agent.” It is built on Android, not Windows.

Microsoft showed off two Project Solara devices at Build today: the Desk Concept and the Badge Concept. The concept of the desk is a device like the Amazon Echo Show that unlocks with facial recognition and gives access to AI assistants.

The idea of ​​a badge is easy to wear, the kind of badge you can use to find a place to work. It has a camera and a fingerprint scanner, which can wake up an AI assistant with a single press. Microsoft demonstrated the ability to record and record conversations, and record them immediately. The camera can also be used by the assistant to see what the user can see.

Microsoft is not planning to ship these two devices, but it will be a statement that it expects other device manufacturers to create real products, According to GeekWire. Project Solara is designed for the basic tools of the assistant, and the platform is “very flexible,” according to Microsoft partner Steven Bathiche. Companies such as AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Healthcare, and Target are planning to launch pilots.

Microsoft chose Android, the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, over Windows to “use smaller, lower-power devices while maintaining the management and security that IT departments expect,” GeekWire reports.

The work to do this is original. But Microsoft wants to get involved in AI tools as the field is expected to heat up in the coming months and years. Traditional rivals like Google and Meta are working on their own AI tools, and OpenAI is developing tools in collaboration with Jony Ive.